The Southeastern Conference has compiled some respectable conquests this season in men’s basketball, with league teams knocking off Kansas State, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh and Villanova.
Yet for every big win, there have been twice as many embarrassing defeats. Campbell, Coastal Carolina, Florida Atlantic, UNC-Asheville, Furman, Oakland, Nicholls State, North Texas and St. Peter’s are among the teams that have feasted at the SEC’s expense.
Entering Saturday’s start to league play, the SEC has suffered 49 nonconference setbacks and is on track to its worst showing since the 1993-94 season.
“We’ve been upset by some lower-conference teams, so I don’t know what to say about that,” Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said. “Fortunately the mid-majors haven’t gotten [the Commodores] yet. Maybe our league just isn’t as good. I hope that’s not the case, but maybe that’s the case.”
The SEC had five or six representatives in every NCAA tournament from 1997 to 2008 before three teams went in 2009, when Mississippi State and Tennessee were bounced in the first round and LSU lost in the second. Last year was spent trying to earn back respect, and four teams received bids, with Kentucky and Tennessee reaching the Elite Eight.